I couldn't really believe it myself but I actually won $60,000 in the lottery! It's meant that Rose and I have been able to start our lives together a lot more comfortably than we might have been able to otherwise - our own house, two cars and some money to put away for a rainy day too.

We'd still be living with Luc and Gordon without the money. But we want to get married eventually and have kids and share house living is not particularly conducive to that! This house is big enough for a family, when the time comes.

For now though, it's just me, Rose and our dog, Abel.

He's our baby, so he's kind of spoiled. Rose is the worst with him. He gets a treat any time he begs and he'd be sleeping in bed with us if Rose had it her way.

My family lives really close by now. I guess they sort of followed us over. Apart from Amelia, we're all Exeter natives so living in the suburbs is new for us.

Dad is fine. He rings the doorbell.

Mum just strolls in whenever she likes without even announcing her presence. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to use the bathroom only to find Mum is in there, when I didn't even know she'd come over!

Wade and Amelia don't come over as often as my parents but it's hard with a newborn! They did bring Emma over the other night to meet us though.

She's so sweet. She almost made Rose and me want a baby right now. But we're not quite ready yet.

Noah and Sophie came over too. Looking at Noah is like looking at a mini-Wade! But then Sophie looks a lot like Wade too. They're both real little Gottliebs!

Speaking of Sophie, provided I stay on the same grade, she'll be in my class next year. I can't believe I have an 8 year-old niece!

I've been teaching at the primary school for a couple of years now and I'm liking it way more than I thought I would. The co-workers...well, that's another story. I've won most of them over now but socialising is not my strong point! I'm just not really into having to be friendly to other people for the sake of harmony in the workplace. But I guess it has to be done.

Rose has been through a few jobs since graduating. She was a DJ for a while (the idea of which was hilarious to me and I'm kind of sorry I was overseas the whole time!) and then she worked at a nursing home for a little bit.

Finally though, she's got a job in journalism, which is what she really wants to do! I think I was as excited for her as she was for herself. She's only a fact checker right now but I don't think she'll be stuck there for too long.

It was cause for drinks at the Blue Lion, even though it was 10 o'clock in the morning when Rose got the phone call. Hey, it's 5 o'clock somewhere, right?

Random pics:I love Abel. I don't think I've ever given my Sims a Dalmatian before but they're so sweet. And I love the tongue hanging out the mouth!

I wish we had the Hot Smooch and Love Talk animations from the NL dining booths on regular couches. There's a lot of cute animations and no real reason they wouldn't work nicely on a couch too. I might experiment with some OMSPs one day and see what I can do.Notes:

Title is from The Waiting by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Grooveshark is down right now, so it's a YouTube link and a rubbish Vevo link at that!

I already mentioned this in Luc and Gordon's update this round but because that was at the very beginning and we're now approaching the end, I'll remind you. Joanna was the Sim who rolled the Large lottery prize ROS this round.

Athena is such a mum. Adam and Wade both drop over a lot but they ring the doorbell and wait to be invited inside. I wonder what it is about some Sims that cause them to just waltz in. Joanna is 100/100 with all of her immediate family, so it's not relationship.

Lake and Kendal came to visit Rose as well, but I had trouble writing their bit, so I took the easy way out and cut it. But they're not ignoring their daughter/step-daughter!

Pretty short one this time but I so needed the break! The last four updates have been kind of hardcore for me - lots of posing and lots of drama!This was pure game play.

Next round, I think these two will probably get engaged. They've got the want to get married and have had it for about two years now, so they're probably getting quite impatient. I've been trying to decide whose surname they'll take and I think it'll be Rose's. I have no clue who Patience will end up with or when that will happen and Christopher, though a Draper, doesn't have any Draper blood, being the child of Lake and Kendal, two former townies. And I feel like I should keep the bloodline going somehow. When Joanna and Rose have kids, I'll probably artificially inseminate one of them to keep it going.

I really liked this update. I don' remember Rose and Joanna before, but they are such a great couple.

Wasn't it a feature of free time that sims could just walk in without being greeted if they were "bff's?" Of course, you probably have the same mod I have that only allows sims 12 and under to make bff's (Pescado I think) so I don't have as many of those anymore.

I love the dalmatians! I was thinking just yesterday I wish I had more pets in my neigborhood.

You could always hyphenate the last name so both of their names can continue. I'm planning to do that for one of my couples, Andrew and Alon Ajjanagade-Winehouse...I never said it wouldn't be a mouthful but their monogramed towels can now say "AAAW!"

Maisie, yeah, this family will eventually become the Drapers. I'll just inseminate one girl and make the other the "father", like I did with Cordy and Luc's mothers (you may not have been reading then, not sure). Sullivan has some very advanced medical technology, what with genetic plastic surgery and babies without sperm! ;) I draw the line at boys having babies though. When that time comes for Aaron and Calvin, they'll have kids some way but neither of them will be pregnant!

Anyway, for these girls, it'll probably be Joanna who carries the babies. If I don't have Joanna take it slowly at work, she'll be Education Minister by the time she's 30, because her skills are maxed out.

Apple Valley, hmmm, I hate to tell you this but that's all I did! I've always been able to do it. I just teleport the Sims in and have them visit their families. The babies teleport in a bit strangely - they'll be floating in the air briefly but they float down to the ground once I unpause and anyone can pick them up. Some interactions are missing but nothing you need just to get some pictures of a family visit.

Maybe it depends what teleporter you use? I've always used the Summoner from InSim.

Francesca, thanks, glad you liked it.

Rose and Joanna have been together for about 10 years. Rose used to date Luc in high school. She and Joanna got together shortly before Rose's mother died and Rose's father found out about them about a year later, which was quite the shock for him. Joanna went travelling alone for two years after graduating early from college (genius, for real), so they were apart for a long time. This is their first update back together, apart from the mini-update I did for Joanna's homecoming.

I actually don't have that hack! BFFs were a feature of either FT or AL but what's supposed to happen with them is that Sims will greet their BFFs automatically (there's a special greeting for it) if they see them outside their house. I've always had some Sims just stroll in, almost always relatives. Joanna is BFFs with Adam and Wade too though, so there's something about Athena that makes her more likely to waltz in like she owns the place.

rome_raven, ha, AAAW! Very funny! I considered hyphenation but decided against it. I hyphenated for Max and Zaria's kids but now that there are no other Nihills except Max and Olivia, I've decided when Steve and Olivia get married, he'll take her name. When I can, I like to preserve the surnames in their original state. If Rose was the only Draper and Joanna was the only Gottlieb, I'd probably go for hyphenation in that case.

Cissie, I know, I love Rose and Joanna. They're only one bolt but they're very sweet together. They rolled up the marriage want after they went on a date right after Joanna came home but I just locked it and waited on it. They were only 23, so there's no rush.

Ah good to know! I was reading back when the twins were conceived, just couldn't remember how you did the father. I may not have been posting ether... I don't know when I started that, but I found your blog Jan 09, and read regular since then. LOL

Lunar, you know, I think that will help! Thanks so much - I never even thought of an invisible recolour!

Joanna and Rose are one of my favourite couples, easy. Love them.

Ah, it makes sense that's outgoing Sims! Athena has 10 outgoing points. Wade has 8, Adam has 6, so neither of them are shy but not quite so bold as Athena, I guess!

Maisie, yep, Cordy and Luc are InSim babies. Kimberly and Betsy probably would have had InSim babies too, except for the fact that Betsy is a clone of Anna. I didn't need to spread Betsy's genes because Anna was already going to!

Just went and looked up when Cordy and Luc were born, out of curiosity and it was May '09! So they were little babies back then and now Cordy's got a baby of her own (birthdays tomorrow!) and Luc's pretty serious with Asha. They grow up so fast!

Wow, that's a lot of money for two young people just starting out! They're well set, aren't they?

OMG, her mom is so funny, just walking in! I love it when Sims do that. It's so realistic! :)

And oh, I SO wish they could do the booth animations on the couches! Why would that have been so difficult to give us? Really? It's just so adorable!

I was also curious about if/when they'd be starting a family. Geez, is that all we want out of these Sims? LOL!

And I don't know why, but I was cracking up at drawing the line at boys having babies! I don't know why I found that so funny. I suppose we have to draw the line somewhere, right? ;)

It's a shame neither Aaron or Calvin have any sisters to surrogate. (Do either of them have any female cousins?) I was thinking about seeing if Charlotte might surrogate for Luke and Jim in my hood. She's a family Sim, so I'm sure she wouldn't mind popping out another baby after she's done with her own. You know, Luke and Jim aren't even married yet, but we're thinking ahead here, lol!

And hmmm, you know Joanna has a brother, if Rose wanted to carry. Just think of the funny story you could write when the two of them need to ask him to "donate" lol!

bbop, ha, yeah, it'll probably be Joanna that does the birthing but I've been going back and forth on that since I wrote this post. If Laura's career notes give me some ideas to slow Joanna the hell down with her promotions, I might end up having Rose knocked up instead.

I can't remember how much of this house I furnished myself! It was fully Maxis-furnished, so I replaced a lot of those objects with custom stuff. So I guess I can take credit for the colours and object choice but not really for placement and layout. But thanks for the compliment! :)

Laura, Rose and Joanna pretty much have it made now. I can't think what else they'll need money for, except artificial insemination. That will cost them a little.

It sucks we can't have the booth animations on couches but I'm pretty excited to get this invisible recolour Lunar linked to! That'll be very nice indeed!

And yep, that's pretty much all I want out of my Sims! It's so sad but I think most of what I do with my Sims is built around who's going to start a family with who. LOL!

Heh, well, boys having babies is probably more realistic than genetic plastic surgery, which I have no problem with. So I think the lines I draw (and the lines we all draw) can tend to be a little arbitrary sometimes. But like you say, we do have to draw some sort of line!

And you read my mind, because I've totally been thinking about surrogacy for Aaron and Calvin (God, they're only 17 and I'm already planning their family!). Neither of them have a sister, although Calvin's stepsister is Patience. Calvin's female cousins are Adrienne Novak and Audrey Lachance - a little young! Adrienne is Aaron's cousin as well and she's his only female cousin. Geez, do I have any couples without mutual cousins?!!

But if I was going to do surrogacy for Aaron and Calvin, my first choice for oven would probably be Maia. She's not related to either of them (well, she's James's cousin but the game doesn't recognise that) but she's very close to both of them, especially Aaron. I think she'd definitely be the one they'd ask. She's a Popularity Sim but I think she'd do this for Aaron.

As for Rose and Joanna, I was going to inseminate one with the DNA of the other but now I'm rethinking. Sperm donation...hmmm! And Wade would probably be the one they'd have to ask too. Rose has no living male relatives, apart from her dad and Joanna has James Novak and Eliot Lane as cousins but they're not close enough to ask for something like this! Luc is also her cousin, but as he's also Joanna's ex, that might be awkward.

I'm all excited now! I've got some thinking to do. :D I can't wait to see what you've got planned for Jim and Luke - I love them!

And this has made me think I should really add step-family information to my profiles! There are only a couple so I should do it now before it gets overwhelming (although I doubt it ever will).